Have You Ever Taken Ballroom Dance Lessons?

What to do . . . what to do?
This is the question that you and your husband have been joking about for months. As you made your way through one of the busiest years of your marriage you reminded yourself that in a year things will slow down. As slightly older parents than most, you have navigated a ridiculously busy year of having to senior in the family. Your older daughter is completing a Bachelor of Arts degree with a biology major from a small liberal arts school in the south. Her campus, 12 hours from your house, has literally become a second home as you have spent many weekends during the last four years traveling to her collegiate gymnastics meets.

Your younger daughter has kept you busy as well. Involved in show choir, marching band, and orchestra all four years of high school, your senior in high school even added cross country to her final year. Balancing her heavy academic load while at the same time being so involved with the music department has required a good deal of energy on your part as well. You have helped drive her to and from private lessons even after she was old enough to have her license so she could make use of the travel time to study. You and your husband have divided and conquered many weekends as you found a way for at least one of you to be at every band and show choir competition, as well as the college gymnastics meets of your older daughter.

During these last few weeks, however, you find yourself almost giddy with the idea of the free time that you will have in the future. You will still make trips down south to visit your younger daughter who will be following her older sister’s college choice. Without gymnastics meets to attend, however, the visits will likely be longer but less frequent. Your older daughter will have one year of nursing school at a research hospital a mere three hours from your house so you will likely make that trip every once in awhile.

You will have lots more time to yourselves, and you have plenty of plans. Your husband wants you to start golfing again and you want him to take ballroom dance lessons. Both activities that will get you up and moving. Golfing in the morningD dancing in the evening. They both sound great!
Ballroom Dance Studios Offer a Number of Different Classes

As the parents of two daughters you often joke that both golfing and dancing will be handy. Your husband hopes if your daughters marry they will find a spouse who loves to golf and you both know any wedding your girls plan will be quite the event. Complete with the bride and groom dance and the traditional parents dance, you know of at least two times when the ballroom dance lessons will come in handy.
In addition to providing a way to spend time together and meet other people, both golfing and dancing offer an opportunity to increase the amount of exercise you get in any given week. Did you know, for instance that dance is a moderate activity, according to the USDA’s physical activity guidelines. Knowing that adults should get at least 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous daily activity daily, both dance and golf can fill these needs. And while you may not want to go out on the town dancing every night, the ballroom dance lessons themselves provide a great way to get up and get moving.

Once you have mastered the different options ballroom dance lessons offer you will be ready for many situations. Likewise, an outdoor activity like golf is something that encourages travel to great destinations. The fact that dancing is a low impact aerobic activity that can boost your metabolism is just one of the reasons that it is a popular activity. In fact, in just thirty minutes of dancing, participants can burn anywhere between 200 and 400 calories.

Engaging in any cardiovascular or aerobic activity can help improve your heart health, lower obesity and Type 2 diabetes risk, and also promote lung capacity. You know you will have plenty of things to do to fill your time when the girls are gone!